The new $46.7 million Gardendale High School opened in 2010. (Birmingham News Photo Linda Stelter)

A grassroots group of Gardendale parents and community members want to look into seceding from the Jefferson County school system and forming a city district.

The group will ask the Gardendale City Council tonight at 6 p.m. to fund a feasibility study to find out how much money it would cost - and whether it would be worth it -- to form a city school system for the city of about 15,000 residents.

There are currently five county schools in the Gardendale zone - Snow Rogers, Gardendale and Mount Olive Elementary schools, Bragg Middle School and Gardendale High School. Mount Olive is not currently in the city limits of Gardendale, but the elementary school feeds into Gardendale High.

David Salters, a parent of two children at Gardendale Elementary School, said he is interested in exploring a city school system. The feasibility study should be able to answer questions about cost and what kind of tax base the city will need to sustain a school system, he said.

"The question is what are the possible benefits of forming a city school system?" he said. "Can it be done better with local control and locally controlled funds? Can we have an improved curriculum and provide a better educational experience?"

Salters said he found in his research that smaller school systems with a solid tax base typically rank higher in student achievement than larger districts.

"Is a one-size-fits-all approach for 36,000 students and 50-plus properties the best fit for Gardendale?" he said. "Trussville did this and made marked improvements in test scores. That's why we're doing the study - we want to get the data."

Jefferson County Superintendent Phil Hammonds was superintendent when Trussville pulled out of the county system in 2005. He said the county worked with the city as it formed its own school system, and it will do the same with Gardendale as it explores its options.

"We want to be respectful to any community wanting to look at the feasibility of starting a school system," he said. "We value every community and will supply any data we can to help them make their decision. Considerations such as whether a city has the tax base to form and sustain a school system must be taken into account, but ultimately, we all want to do what's best for students."

A group in support of forming a school system in Gardendale has formed on Facebook, called Gardendale City Schools and already has 760 members. The group's founder, Tim Bagwell, wrote that having local control over the schools brings the prospect for higher academic achievement and greater flexibility, as well as gives better control "over the geographic composition of the student body, protection against the actions of other jurisdictions that might not be in our best interests," and the prospect of higher property values.

He said Mount Olive would probably need to be annexed into the Gardendale city limits, since the elementary school feeds into Gardendale High School.

Salters said Gardendale is on the cusp of exploding commercially and residentially thanks to the Northern Beltline just north of Gardendale and Interstate 22 just south of the city.

"We're in the middle and have the opportunity for a trifecta if we have a good city school system," he said. "It doesn't make sense not to at least look into the possibility."